Hair curler sorter



HAIR CURLER 'SORTER Filed Dec. 16, 1966 I -a J 20 "w I Mal iii 1 (4% '2 4/ z 5 l2 .227. 5 L7 x/vvs/vro/a AURTHUR G. MARTINEAU JR fig. 3'

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United States Patent M 3,451,548 HAIR CURLER SORTER Arthur G. Martineau, Jr., 1024 Onondaga Ave., Syracuse, N.Y. 13207 Filed Dec. 16, 1966, Ser. No. 602,389 Int. Cl. B07c /04, 1/10; B07b 13/04 US. Cl. 209-97 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a device for automatically sorting and separating hair curlers according to size.

In the past, hairdressers, after having set hair on the plastic roller-type curlers currently in use, have had to sort the curlers they have used by manually placing them according to size in different receptacles, either while removing them or subsequently to washing them. Since the commonly used sizes are used frequently each day this results in the hairdresser having to take time out from a busy schedule to do the sorting or to hire extra help to do it for him.

The present invention contemplates the use of an inclined tube down which the curlers can be slid, the tube having a tapered slot therein through which the curlers can fall downward at intervals spaced along the tube according to the size of the individual curler. An arrangement of baskets under the tube provides means for keeping the curlers arranged according to size and for transporting the curlers from the device to the sink where they are washed by spraying or otherwise.

The principal object of the invention accordingly, is to provide a device for automatically sorting curlers according to size.

Another important object is to provide means easily transported for keeping the curlers separate according to size after they have been sorted.

A further object is to provide a sorting device which is adjustable so as to be in easy reach of the operator as he removes the curlers after use.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a device according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the tube portion of FIGURES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

In the drawing the device has a shelf-contacting rectangular base 11 provided with feet 12, preferably of rubber, at the four corners. It will be understood that floor-supported or wall-bracket bases may be alternatively provided.

At one corner of the base an upstanding pillar or post 13 has a reduced cylindrical lower end 14 seated in an appropriate hole in the base 11. The top of post 13 is integral with or secured to a tube 15, preferably of plastic material. Tube 15 is secured to the post so as to be in- 3,451,548 Patented June 24, 1969 clined upward and has an open upper end 16 which is preferably bell-mouthed, as shown.

The bottom sidewall is provided with a tapered slot 17 therein, as best seen in FIGURE 3. Slot 17 is comparatively narrow at its upper end adjacent the bell-mouth 16 and is comparatively wide at its lower end adjacent post 13. A

Post 13 may be unitary or of three parts as shown. The inner rod portion 18 is secured to tube 15 at its top, as by a drive fit, and pivotally connected at its lower end to the base 14. A tubular spacer 19 supports the tube 15 and rests on a hub element 20 which is keyed or otherwise secured to rod 18 and is spaced from base 11 by a washer 21. A pin 22 projects radially from the lower cylindrical end 14 of post 13 and lies in a quadrant slot 23 in base 11 to limit the turning of tube 15 with respect to base 11 to ninety degrees of its position shown in FIGURE 2.

Hub element 20 is secured to, or integral with a shelf element 24 which supports a basket 25 which is one of a unitary arrangement of a plurality of baskets 25, 26, 27 and 28.

Basket 25 has an upper rim 29 which is secured by adhesive, or by removable clips, to a medial rim or band 30 around basket 26. An upper rim 31 of basket 26 is likewise secured to a medial band 32 of basket 27 and an upper rim 33 of basket 27 is secured to a medial band 34 of basket 28 to maintain the baskets in staggered arrangement beneath tube 15 as best seen in FIGURE 1.

The upper rim 35 of basket 28 has a forwardly projecting hook portion 36 which removably rests on an L- shaped bracket 37 pendant from the tube 15, as best seen in FIGURES 1 and 4, so that the baskets are supported from tube 15 and swing to the side with the tube. It will be noted that the lower right hand corner of each basket as viewed in FIGURE 2, is curved, as shown so that curlers 38 falling into each basket roll to the left and out from under tube 15.

Shelves 40, 41, 42 and 43 may be secured to the top of tube 15 as shown to hold a can of hairspray, a tissue tray, a hairpin tray, and a hair clip tray, for example.

In operation, the hairdresser when he removes the curlers may drop the clips into the clip-tray and the rollers into bell-mouth 16, after swinging the tube 15 towards himself so that it is near to the work area. As the curlers slide down tube 15 they fall through the slot where the width of slot first exceeds the diameter of the curler. Since the baskets 2528 are spaced successively along tube 15, each size of curler falls into a different basket, the slot 17 being proportioned to separate four dilferent diameters, in this particular embodiment.

When a curler reaches a point in tube 15 where theslot 17 is of a width equal to the diameter of the curler it tips forward and falls from the tube with its axis substantially vertical and has enough momentum, from right to left in FIGURE 1, to topple over in the basket below. Due to the curved end, at the right in FIGURE 2, of the basket bottom, the curler then rolls away from under tube 15 toward the other side of the basket where it is accessible to the operator.

When they are needed for another customer, the curlers may be all washed together by picking up the basket assembly and removing hook 36 from the bracket 37 and basket 25 from shelf 24 and carrying all four baskets as a unit to the sink where they can be washed by spraying them in the basket or otherwise. The basket unit can then be replaced under tube 15 where the curlers are available, sorted as to size, for the next customer.

In a constructed embodiment designed for sorting curlers of 1%", I%;", 1 and Ms" diameter, slot 17 was about 18" in length and varied in width from about /1 at the narrow end to about 1 /2" at the wider end. The

drop-out points were substantially evenly spaced from a first point for the smaller curlers spaced from the narrow end to a point adjacent the other end for the largest size curlers.

It will be apparent that slot 17 may be proportioned to separate a greater or less number of sizes and that the same arrangement of slotted tube and pendant receptacles may be used for sorting any cylindrical articles which vary in diametric size.

As will be apparent to those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A hair curler and storage device, comprising a ho]- low tube having an open bell-mouth end, the tube being supported inclined from the horizontal with open end upward, the tube having an elongated opening along its downwardly facing side, the opening being tapered downwardly and divergently, and a plurality of receptacles supported successively immediately below the tube, whereby cylindrical curlers may be manually inserted in the bell-mouth end of the tube and thereafter the curlers automatically slide down the tube and drop through the opening at spaced intervals according to the diametrica-l size of the curlers, into the receptacles where they are stored ready for reuse.

2. A hair curler sorting device comprising an elongated hollow tube open at one end and supported inclined from the horizontal with open end upward, the tube having an elongated opening along its bottom, the opening being tapered from a comparatively narrow upper end adjacent the open end of the tube to a comparatively wide lower end adjacent the other end of the tube for allowing curlers of different size to fall from the opening at spaced intervals, a base member for supporting the tube, a plurality of receptacles, and means associated with the tube for supporting the receptacles successively along below the tube opening for receiving the curlers as they fall from the tube, the tube and receptacle supporting means having a pivotal connection with the base, whereby the tube and associated receptacles may be manually adjusted from side to side.

3. The device defined in claim 2 characterized by the receptacles being supported pendantly from the tube.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 363,084 5/1887 Riggs 2O9---99 425,705 4/1890 Smallwood 2()999 2,908,.3 89 10/1959 Lauer 209-99 3,347,.3 68 10/ 1967 Morgensen 209-99 ALLEN N. KNOWLES, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD A. SCHACHER, Assistant Examiner. 

